Azrael woke, his heart thumping and his instincts screaming at him. He wasn’t sure why, but subconsciously he knew something was wrong. In brief moments he went from fast asleep to full alert. It took him a moment more to calm his racing heart and push through the sudden rush of adrenaline.

The first thing he noticed was that his foot was wet. The second was the seeking snuffles coming from outside. Something moved by the entrance. There was the scratch of something sharp on the roof. He cast [Search], finding four large signatures outside. One was on the roof while three more circled his shelter. They had him surrounded.

Cautiously he pushed himself up into a crouch. He was careful not to make a sound. He didn’t want to alert the creatures outside. While [Search] was indispensable for identifying the location of things, its results were always a little foggy since it measured mana more than anything else. This meant he was still in the dark regarding his sudden guests.

Still in a crouch, Azrael duck-waddled to the entrance, afraid that standing up would make more sound. He needn’t have worried, as his foot stepped onto a shattered shard of the bowl. It crunched in the silence.

The snuffling stopped, followed by a squawk after a hesitant moment of silence. A reply came from the roof. A quick [Search] revealed that while two of the creatures had retreated a bit further away the one at the roof and the one at the door remained in place.

A claw scraped across the entrance and Azrael instinctively started summoning a stone dagger, before pausing and reconsidering. Channelling the mana into a very localised [Search] he focused it precisely at the creature at the door, trying to determine its location. The Skill came back with an outline of a two-legged creature roughly a meter tall and with a long tail that made it almost two meters long. It was curiously clawing at the door.

Azrael felt a smile creep onto his face. Now that the momentary shock was wearing off he had time for other thoughts - such as food. Despite being surrounded and effectively trapped inside his shelter he was also inversely protected by a dome of solid stone. So far the creatures hadn’t displayed any hints that they could get in. If they had had some form of ability to get in then they would have done so at the beginning and ambushed him. He was safe, and they were viable sources of food – food that had quite literally delivered itself to his door.

His stomach growled traitorously and the scratching paused again. He could have sworn he felt the creature outside cock its head. Mentally, he cocked his own head, considering the best way to go about this.

If he wanted launch a surprise attack he had a few options. The first was simply jumping out and attacking. The problem here was that [Void Shaping] the door to open was by no means an instantaneous process. The creatures would see the door open before he’d even stepped out. And if he did, then he would be opening himself up to an attack from the leader on the roof.

A second alternative would be to use [Void Shaping] to sink one of the two creatures into the ground. He wouldn’t have to expose himself and once caught he could take his time to attack. Again, however, the process wouldn’t be instantaneous. It was highly likely that they would notice and escape before the stone turned to quicksand. The sharp claws meant these creatures were probably pack hunters and not a group of scavengers. Most likely they could move swiftly.

This meant he would have to injure them before they realised he was even attacking.

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Azrael placed a hand on the door and closed his eyes. Using [Mana Mastery] he grabbed a hold of the abundant ambient fire mana and willed it to gather on the other side. Since he couldn’t tell exactly how protected his opponents were, he figured one big explosion would do the trick. Be it hide, hair, scale or feather sheer explosive power didn’t care.

With that image in mind, he mentally focused on the mana outside. In his mind’s eye he envisaged it flowing towards that one point, swirling together and coalescing into a single point of pure explosive potential.

An alarmed squawk from outside caused his eyes to open. Outside feet claws scratched on stone and feet shuffled anxiously. It didn’t take Azrael long to figure out why. In the dark of the shelter, ruddy light shone through the breathing holes. Outside a small ball of fire concentrated fire mana glowed a dull orange, without [Mana Sight]. Even as he watched, swirls of concentrated mana began to glow as the drew nearer – eventually being sucked into his mana construct. His proficiency in [Mana Mastery] ticked up a level, heralded by a blue screen.

He dismissed it go, watching the glow fade as the mana dissipated. For a brief moment he’d been tempted to just set it off, to let the mana ignite in the hope of catching the already retreating creature. He’d held back. A failed attempt would only scare off the creature – a possible and equal outcome. What had truly stopped him was the realisation that between him and that super charged ball of glowing mana was a wall of stone not even a hand's breadth thick. He wasn’t sure if it would withstand an explosion of that scale.

Forced into a tactical retreat he let the remnants of the mana fade away. While working with [Mana Mastery] meant it took more time to gather the ambient mana, it also meant that his personal expenditure was also far less. All he’d wasted was time.

Yet, despite having nothing but time at the moment – time and hunger – it irritated him. [Search] revealed that the creatures had backed off a bit. Even the leader was circling the shelter warily from a good distance. They all were – wary and alert.

Still, even as he sat there he heard them outside in the darkness. A squawk, a pip, a shifting stone or a claw scraping against something. They advanced and retreated at their leader’s orders, one of them cautiously coming a few steps closer, before retreating back out again. But always steadily closer. They were hunters – wary and cautious, yes – but hunters nonetheless.

But so was Azrael. While they circled him, he waited. While they advanced, he plotted. And when they came, he was ready.

After far too long a time waiting, the first of them finally tried to scratch the door again. It sniffed at the holes. It could smell him. That was the only reason they hadn’t left yet. They knew he was here. He didn’t care. The world was as fair as it was cruel, and what went around came around.

He readied his mana, the walls of his shelter long since infused during the last few hours of waiting. The longer they had taken the longer he’d had to take control of the entire structure. It was prepped and loaded, like a single grenade.

The creature scratched at the door, this time with a forceful insistence. Azrael didn’t hesitate, his entire mind bent to a single image. Stone rushed, drawing into dozens of deadly sharp lances as he chained [Stone Spike] after [Stone Spike] across the surface of his shelter. There was an alarmed squawk, the frantic skittering of claws on stone and finally a screech of extreme pain. Something heavy hit the ground. Feet pattered and further down the jungle exploded in sudden startled cries that fell silent just as quickly.

In the sudden hush he heard his heart pumping with adrenaline. His face he noticed was sweaty from exertion. He’d maintained the mana for that single spell for hours. Still, it seemed his opponent was lucky.

Outside there was the pattering of feet, hurried chirps and squawks, and finally with extreme difficulty a fourth set of footsteps rejoining the other three. It limped, its steps heavy and clumsy. It was wounded – heavily. He smelt the blood outside. The four creatures sent stones clattering down the scree slope as they made their escape. In this jungle they were now racing against time.

The door to Azrael’s shelter finally flowed apart. The outside looked like a demonic sea urchin. Blood lay splattered on the floor, still warm.

A trail of red footsteps led to the trees below. They weren’t the only ones that had to eat. Such was the law of the jungle.